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Media Highlights

November 2009

This summary highlights media placements members of the UCSC community have garnered during the month of November 2009.

National and international

The media feasted on new research about the dietary habits of the notorious "man-eating lions of Tsavo," which was led by anthropologist Nate Dominy and graduate student Justin Yeakel. The story made the cover of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and made headlines in the Telegraph of the U.K., The Australian, New Zealand Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, and Reuters India, and appeared in Nature, New Scientist, Discover, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Santa Cruz Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Science Daily, St. Louis Post-DispatchVirginian-Pilot, and Prince George Citizen. Broadcast coverage included National Public Radio, ABC News, and KFSM Radio and CBS2 in Chicago. In addition, the Associated Press, McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Press Association's Mediapoint Wire, and Agence France Presse ran the story on their wires, generating stories in the San Francisco Chronicle, Newark Star-Ledger, and many other newspapers. The Windy Citizen, Chicagoist, mystateline.com, RedOrbit.com, and Mother Nature Network also covered the news.

Coverage of a genome sequencing project led by biomolecular engineer David Haussler included KION TV, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey County Herald, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Portland Oregonian, Baton Rouge Advocate, Asian News International, Canberra Times, Hindustan Times, Life Science Weekly, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, and UPI; U.K. newspapers the Telegraph, Independent, and Irish Times; ABC Science (Australia); CBC News (Canada); Straits Times (Singapore); science magazines Science, Nature, Science News, Popular Science, and Conservation; and online news sites Science Daily, GenomeWeb, Bio-IT World, Red Orbit, Gizmodo, Health News Digest, and Health Newstrack. In addition, Haussler was quoted in a Science News story about the sequencing of the horse genome.

News that the library is officially looking for a professional archivist to manage the Grateful Dead Archive received considerable national attention: It was the lead story on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and was also covered by the New York Times, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” San Francisco Chronicle, ABC News, Toronto Star, National Post (Toronto), and KPIX-TV. Many of these stories, including a lengthy piece in AOL’s Daily Finance, featured quotes from the library’s head of Special Collections Christine Bunting.

In a lengthy feature about the suffering of those plagued by nightmares, The New Yorker quoted research professor Bill Domhoff, a leading dream researcher. In addition, Domhoff penned a letter to the editors of American Prospect in which he critiqued the magazine's review of a new book about power.

Economist Robert Fairlie was interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor for a story about the size of the nation's "shadow economy." Fairlie calls the legal production of goods and services that are not taxed "necessity business," and he says it has grown during the recession. Fairlie's work was also featured in a Fortune Small Business article about the best places to launch new businesses.

Physicist Michael Dine was a guest on NPR's On Point, discussing potential discoveries in physics and cosmology that might fundamentally change our views of the universe. Dine was also quoted in a New Scientist magazine article about the potential for discovering evidence of supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider.

Economist Lori Kletzer was quoted in a New York Times article about data-collection problems that distort the government's assessment of the nation's economic vigor in ways that overstate growth and productivity. Kletzer, a labor economist with expertise on outsourcing of jobs, attended a first-of-its-kind gathering of academics and government officials eager to produce a more accurate statistical picture. Kletzer was also quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about UCSC pay levels; the story also appeared in the Monterey Herald.

Research on marine reserves by biologist Pete Raimondi and his colleagues was covered in the San Jose Mercury News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Portland Oregonian, and Science Daily.

Glaciologist Slawek Tulaczyk's research in Antarctica was the focus of a story in Science News for Kids that won a top science writing award, the 2009 AAAS-Kavli Science Journalism Award, children's journalism division.

Astrophysicist Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz was quoted in a Scientific American news story about a new type of supernova explosion.

Astronomer Jerry Nelson was featured in a news story in Science and in a story in Wired News about the Thirty-Meter Telescope project based on Nelson's presentation of the annual Halliday Lecture.

Astronomer David Koo was quoted in Science News and U.S. News & World Report stories about a giant supercluster of galaxies.

Film critic and community studies chair B. Ruby Rich, who coordinates the Social Documentation Program, was featured in an interview in Curve.

A study by astronomer Juerg Diemand was mentioned in a USA Today story about dark matter in our galaxy.

The latest op-ed by history professor Dana Frank, titled “Obama shouldn't cave in to the Far Right on Honduras,” was picked up by the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, McClatchy News Service, Progressive Media, KFSM-Arkansas, and digg.com. Frank was also quoted in an Associated Press story about the U.S. position on the coup that ran in the New York Times. And Frank appeared on the radio in Iran, commenting on the latest political agreement in Honduras for Iranian World Service English Radio in Tehran.

Ocean scientist Adina Paytan's research on the effects of pollutants on marine life was featured in Oceanus.

Nanotechnology Now ran a story about engineer Nobuhiko Kobayashi's appointment as co-director of the Advanced Studies Laboratory.

Research by astronomer Peter Bodenheimer on the first stars to form in the universe was covered on PhysOrg.com.

Biomolecular engineer Phillip Berman was quoted in two stories about HIV vaccine research in Emergency Medicine Reports.

The London Times and The Guardian featured stories about music professor David Cope and a computer program he created named Emily Howell that composes classical music.

Evolutionary biologist John Thompson's research is featured in an article about "Ten Great Advances in Evolution" on a new evolution web site created by the PBS TV program NOVA.

The Chronicle of Higher Education published a story about history of consciousness professor Donna Haraway, exploring her work, from her 1985 essay "A Cyborg Manifesto" to her 2007 book When Species Meet.

Ocean scientist Raphael Kudela was interviewed for stories in the Portland Oregonian and on Oregon Public Radio about an algal bloom causing seabird deaths on the Northwest coast.

Anthony Pratkanis of psychology was featured in a Discovery Channel program about Nostradamus that aired November 1.

Astrophysicist Steve Ritz was quoted in a Nature news story about funding recommendations for future high-energy physics research projects.

GenomeWeb ran a story about the UCSC Genome Sequencing Center, with quotes from center coordinator Elizabeth Mitchell and biomolecular engineer Nader Pourmand.

Literature professor John Jordan, director of the Dickens Project at UCSC, was quoted in a Scripps Howard News Service story about Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Law & Health Weekly reported that theater arts alumna Marti Noxon is currently developing multiple projects for film and television, including Bang, starring Diane Keaton for HBO, Fright Night for Dreamworks Studios, and Box City, starring Susan Sarandon and Topher Grace, which Noxon will direct.

State and regional

Biologist Daniel Costa was interviewed on KTVU TV News for a story about dolphin attacks on porpoises.

The selection by University Associates-Silicon Valley of a master developer for a sustainable research and education community at NASA Research Park was covered by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, San Francisco Business Journal, Mountain View Voice, Contra Costa Times, and Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Undergraduate Rebecca Wage, who is an intern this quarter at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., penned an op-ed about pork-barrel spending that ran in the Fresno Bee.

The Salinas Californian reviewed Beautiful Americans, a new book by alumna author Lucy Silag, the daughter of novelist Jane Smiley.

Local

In the Santa Cruz Sentinel the month:
An article ran about glaciologist Slawek Tulaczyk's research on the West Antarctic ice sheet. . . . Biomolecular engineer Camilla Forsberg's research on the potential use of stem cells to treat blood disorders was described in a story. . . . The paper ran a story about UCSC’s new Ph.D program in Film & Digital Media, quoting professor Warren Sack, director of graduate studies, and Larry Andrews, chair of the department. . . . Pixar president Ed Catmull’s Foundation Forum address on creativity at the UCSC Music Recital Hall was covered. . . . Dining and Hospitality Services Director Scott Berlin was quoted in an article about a competition among 31 campuses nationwide for the title of friendliest school for vegetarian diners from Peta2, a leading animal rights organization for youth. The competition comes on the heels of a new sustainable food initiative launched by the University of California. . . . Economist Michael Hutchison provided context for a story about the impact of federal stimulus dollars on the local economy. . . . The Lifestyle section ran a feature about emeritus professor of literature and art history Harry Berger Jr. . . . There was a story about alumna Reyna Grande ('99 creative writing/ film and video) and Dancing with Butterflies, her second novel about the difficulties and joys of the immigrant experience. . . . The paper ran a story about two Hartnell College students who won scholarships to study physics at UCSC. . . . It reported that the third annual Founders Day gala event was a sell-out, noting that “nearly 400 guests celebrated the theme of “Fulfilling the Promise” of UCSC’s founders more than four decades ago.” . . . A story about the impact of federal stimulus funds in the county included quotes from climate scientist James Zachos, who received a major research grant supported by stimulus funds, and political scientist Daniel Wirls. . . . The paper reported that the UCSC library met the requirements to receive a $700,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation toward the modernization and expansion of McHenry Library. . . . Theater arts lecturer Tandy Beal was interviewed for a story about Mixed Nutz! The Nutcracker ReMixed, a holiday show presented by Tandy Beal & Company and the Theater Arts Department at UCSC’s Mainstage Theater.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel and Merced Sun-Star noted social psychologist Faye Crosby's selection as the recipient of the 2009 Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance.

Environmental toxicologist Myra Finkelstein was interviewed on a KSCO Radio program focusing on plastics in the oceans and the great Pacific garbage patch.

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